Staphylococcus antibiotics for children

Early childhood is the period of the formation of the immune, nervous and other body systems. It is clear that in conditions of a fragile organism any infection will be a great danger. First, the infection does not see a big barrier to penetration. The baby still has only innate immunity, unable to combat most infections, and the acquired one will be formed for several more years. In addition, a small child, whose hands and stretch to his mouth, it is very difficult to protect from the ubiquitous staphylococcus.

Secondly, having penetrated into the body, the infection does not feel a noticeable resistance from the immature immune system and can actively develop, causing severe symptoms of the disease. It would seem that it would be better to treat infectious diseases in a child in a hospital where there is a competent medical staff and sterility, but alas, reality says the opposite. The likelihood of catching staphylococcus in the hospital is higher than in the home.

The reason for this turn of events is the amazing vitality and stability of staphylococcal infection to environmental changes. He feels great both outside and inside the body, not afraid of the cold and does not always die at boiling. Effective fight with it, especially when ingested, can only be done with antibiotics. But even with such an enemy, the bacterium finds its methods of struggle. Her ability to adapt and survive in any conditions is very high. And if you consider that even one microscopic organism can create a millionth inheritance in a short time, even the percentage of bacteria that dies during antibiotic therapy does not build much weather.

If the treatment of staphylococcal infection in adults, especially the golden and hemolytic types of it, presents certain difficulties, so one or two or three or more drugs have to be prescribed, what should we talk about children for whom the choice of relatively safe antibiotics is limited. After all, the children's organism is very sensitive to the influence of harmful factors. In addition, many organs and systems of the child are still in the stage of formation, and the toxic effects of the drugs themselves can play a cruel joke when treatment with antibiotics of staphylococcus in the throat will subsequently hit the kidneys or liver.

But what is there to say, antibiotics are not safe in the sense that they do not have a selective effect on harmful and useful microflora. And the latter usually suffers even more. But useful bacteria not only support the work of the body, and in particular the digestive system, but also are responsible for immunity. Therefore, very often the treatment of children with antibiotics from staphylococcus and other pathogens ends with a violation of the microflora of the body, a dysbacteriosis with all its unpleasant symptoms (nausea, dyspepsia, diarrhea, dehydration, etc.) and new problems associated with the fact that the child begins more often sick with viral and bacterial pathologies.

In this regard, it should be said that the treatment of antibiotics should be carried out in conjunction with the use of probiotics, which restore the beneficial microflora in the body. And the reception of probiotics should be started from the first days of antibiotic therapy and finished several days after the last dose of antibacterial medication.

The most preferred  antibiotic for staphylococcus in a child  is a drug of the penicillin series, because such drugs can usually be prescribed already in infancy. In more severe cases or with the resistance of the detected strain to penicillins, it is recommended to use cephalosporin antibiotics that are active against a particular type of staphylococcus.

These drugs are considered to be low-toxic, but they have one significant drawback - a high probability of developing intolerance reactions. It is worthwhile to detect such a reaction only once, and treatment with penicillins and cephalosporins will be impossible for the rest of the patient's life.

If this situation arises, you must choose effective drugs from other groups of antibiotics. The least toxic are macrolides. But the bactericidal effect that contributes to the rapid destruction of the staphylococcus population in the patient's body, they manifest only in large doses, which is unacceptable when it comes to children. A bacteriostatic effect does not always produce the expected result.

And no matter how doctors try to choose the antibiotics that are least dangerous for the child's organism, in difficult situations of intolerance to penicillins and cephalosporins and the insufficient effectiveness of macrolides, one must still turn to the help of rather toxic, but stronger drugs: aminoglycosides, nitrofurans, fluoroquinolones, vancomycin, sulfonamides, glycopeptides etc. Of these, the most toxic are fluoroquinolones.

But on the other hand, among penicillins there are also drugs with a nephrotoxic effect (a negative effect on the kidneys). This methicillin, which came to replace the usual penicillin and is actively used in the treatment of staphylococcal infection, as well as carboxypenicillins and ureidopenicillins, which are inactive for staphylococcus.

Nephrotoxicity is also affected by preparations of the first generation of cephalosporins, aminoglycosides (Gentamycin, Kanamycin, etc.), vancomycin, sulfonamides. But glycopeptides are equally dangerous for children, which, along with aminoglycosides, can adversely affect the child's hearing, causing both reversible and irreversible consequences.

When choosing a treatment for a baby, it is necessary to take into account all these moments. If there is a possibility to use less safe antibiotics from staphylococcus in children, it is necessary to use it first. If such treatment is impossible or does not help, it will be necessary to prescribe more toxic drugs, but a minimal course with the selection of the most sparing, but effective dosages. 

In any case, when prescribing antibiotics, children should take into account the age and weight of the child, the presence of congenital and acquired pathologies that may complicate treatment, the response to antibiotics in the past, etc. Most often, antibiotics are prescribed in tablets, but the treatment of babies and children up to 3 years with such forms of medication is impossible. In these cases, antibiotics are prescribed in the form of syrups, suspensions, injectable solutions. The latter therapy should be carried out only in a hospital under the constant supervision of medical personnel, because in this case the probability of dangerous side effects is greatest.

The treatment of children has always been the concern of adults, which should make it as effective and quick as possible, but at the same time the safest. All the same, children are our future, and it must be healthy and happy.

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